Apparatus for joining veneers



June2o,1944. A, FRIZ I2,351,946

APPARATUS FOR JOINING VENEERS Filed Dec. 15. 1940 dj Bi Patente-d June 20, 1944 APPARATUS- Fon JolNI- NG v-ENEEas' Adolf Fria/Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany; v vested lin the Alien Property Custodian Application December 13, i940, rScrialNo. 3705059 In,G`errnanyNovember"7, 1939` 12 claims. latin- 2.79)

This invention relates in generalto the art of joining or mounting veneers, andis particularly concerned with a veneer-joining vmachine' lou-llt and operated along novel principles resulting in a newv and improved joining or mounting method.

The machine forming the subject matter of this invention belongs to the type wherein the veneers are moved by or alonga suitable' conveyor, past a device which attaches to their edges asuitable binder, glue or the like, whereupon the kveneer pieces are laterally pressed together withtlieir glued edges to form a single piece. y

A wholly secure and unobjectionable directbond between such veneer pieces can only be" obtained if both joining edges are provided 'wi.th the binder prior to joining; It is diiiicult to apply the binder to the edges of the veneers in the samemachine which takes care of the joining, because the edges to be joined must lie in the same plane. It has been suggested to use a thin diskbetweenthe veneers for applying the binder simultaneously to both edges thereof. This method'is not very successful. The binder, instead of Ibeing applied tothe veneer edges, is largely, wiped ofi. It is practically impossible with this method .to apply the .binder uniformly, evenly'and steadily.A

It has also been suggestedtopbend the, veneer pieces'at the margins so as to' lift the edges out of the plane inwhich they vmust lie for the joining step` and to apply thejbinderthereto. It was found that such bending is apt tocause longitudinal breakage or marginal cracks in thejve-l neers, especially in the case of relatively thick sheets.

It shoum anche mentionedv here that'it is not practically feasible to holdt theveneers apart a sui'licient distance to permit the use of two separate devices for applying binder to lthe edges., because such spacing would interfere'with moving the edges together directly in back of such devices so as to 'accomplish the required intimate engagement which is needed for carrying outthe' joining.

The present invention proposes a method and operation of the joining and mounting' machine', which makes the application of 'binder means to both joining edgesv feasible in a simple and eilicient manner.

This principal object is accomplished'by dis? posing the guide or conveyor surface for one of the two veneers to be joined, at the'place 'where the binder is applied to the edges, in a plane dis'- posed at an angle to the plane of the guide or conveyor surface for the other piece 'of veneer.

-binder-appl'ying' section, with two .conveyor means running parallel to' each other, one for each of the two veneerpieces, vand one of these conveyor means is inclined at an angle tothe other, thus feeding the correspondingvene'er sheet along a diierent angularly inclined level, Both guide and conveyor surfacesl join again in a common plane' at. the point between the place where the binder is applied'andwhere the joining or bonding is 'actually carried outy and remain in this common plane throughout the entire bonding section of' the. machine. vThe edge of fone veneer piece is thus held at'adifferent level and spaced from the edge ofthe other veneer, for thebinderapplying. section, giving sufficient space for the use of two :separate suitably formed devices for applying the binder to the joining edges. These devices may` be disposed at different levels and may also be spaced longitudinally, that is, in the direction ofil the feeding.- or conveyor motion of v the veneers. Identical or different binder means In` other words, the machine is provided at its -r may be' applied by the two devices. For example, one device may apply a suitable glue to the edge of one veneer, while the other applies to the edge ofthe other veneer .a hardening, solidifying, binding, Aor .bonding substance for coaction. with the glue applied to the edge of the rst veneer sheet. The `term.,binder as used hereiny is intended to refer, unlessfotherwise.stated*or modified, to bindermaterialfin general, .including substances 'such-asglue hardening, bonding orsolidifying materials `andthe. like.

I Another object Aof theinven-ticnA is realized by the provisionof anelastic or yieldable means, for` example, simple leaf springs, for holding down the veneer edges upon their guides or conveyor surfacesat thcplaces where the binder material is applied... Uneven orinsuiicient application of the binderr in case of.. longitudinally waved or warped edges is thus prevented.

.Still ,another-object is -concernediwith theV pro-r vision-of heating` meansatthe place where the actual joining )or bonding .of lthe veneers is carried out., Such/heating means maybe applied to the bondingvseam from above or from below. In the latter case I propose section extending over of the-machine.` v 1 The machine for' carrying `out the newV method is characterized vby its shortness, saving considerablespace, and also by' its speedy operation. The veneerscanbe -runthrough the machine at relatively'great speed,'savingtime and yet furnishingwadependable bond'with certainty and dispatch.- f

tov use aheated conveyor the corresponding portion The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawing. In the drawing- Fig. 1 represents a schematic side view of the machine with all non-essential or well known parts omitted;

Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view analogous to the showing of Fig. 2, of a further embodiment;

Fig. 4 shows, on a larger scale, a section along i the lines 4 4 of Fig. 1; and l Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the modification of the invention and is taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

The veneers to be joined are not shown in Figs. 1-3, but are indicated in the section-alview, Fig.j

` plication of the binder, as previously mentioned.

4. Like parts are indicated by like reference characters throughout the drawing. l

The pieces of veneer a and b (Fig. 4), which are-toA be joined at their edges, are moved along atable bymeans, such as endless belt conveyors or chain conveyors d and e, which may be disposed. within suitable guide grooves in the table designated generally by c. .l

. In the `embodiment according to Figs. 1 and` 2, these chain or belt conveyors operate from the drums f and gi, at one end. of the table tothe drums h at the other end thereof. In other words, there are two separate oppositely disposed conveyors e and d extending substantially throughout the table, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. An additional conveyor u is disposed between the drums 12 and h only for that section of the machine along which the actual joining or bonding of the veneer pieces is accomplished. 'I'he pur-,- pose of this additional conveyor section will be subsequently described morein detail.

The drum y for the conveyor section d is placedA ata lower level than the drum f for the conveyor section e, and therefore the chain or belt conveyor e will extendthroughout substantially parallel to thehorizontal surface of the table c, while part of the conveyor d extends at an angle thereto from its terminal drum tothe point where the drum i is 1ocated. At this; point the conveyor d will again join the plane of the chain or conveyer e. As shown in the drawing, the inclination of the chain or `conveyor d is relatively small. The section of the table c taking the inclined conveyor portion is, of course, inclined in the same manner, this 'being schematically shown in Fig. 1 .wherein the inclined portion of the table is indicated by c' and the horizontal portion byc". 'A guide rib k is arranged between the inclinedtable surface and thev substantially horizontal table surface. This rib is placed between the two conveyor sections d and e for the purpose of guiding the two veneer pieces a and b which are to be joined and mounted on the table.

The machine is thus divided into what may be called a binder-applying section extending between the' drums g-f at one end and the drum comprising two separate conveyors which are disposed parallel to each other but move along different levels at an angle to each other, and a bonding section extending roughly from the drum i to the drum or drums h at the other end, this bonding .section comprising the parts of the two conveyors (d-e) which are disposed'parallel to each other and move in the same plane.

Guide and pressure rollers m are arranged above the table in the usual manner, exerting preferably yieldable downward pressure upon the Vveneer sheets. These rollers maybe arranged in pairs, as shown in Fig. 3, and may be at anangle Two devices 'are provided for applying the binder to the corresponding edges of the veneers. They comprise thel cone-shaped rollers q and r, for applying binder to the veneers a and b, respectively. It will be noted that the rollers are lso arranged that their rims are disposed perpendicular to the respective veneer edges. The binder is thus applied to the veneer edges in a rolling .action instead of a wiping action. These binderrollersare driven by suitable pulleys, indicated at q' and r', respectively. Binder is fed to Athe, roller q from the container s and to the roller r from the container t. 'These rollers, together with their corresponding containers, are arranged so that they can yieldably follow the corresponding edges of the moving veneers. The binder applicator t, associated with the roller r, is

preferably arranged at the level above the table i c, while the applicator s, cooperating with the roller q, is arranged lbelow the corresponding table section.

The two pieces of veneer are thus fed from right to left, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the edges being guided by the rib k. .As the veneer edges passthe binder applicators r and q, the binder is applied in an obvious manner. Near or at the placewhere the drum i is situated, the veneer b, which was kept at a lower level, joins the level of the veneer a. The binder-carrying edges move into engagement with each other by the action of the converging rollers m, and while they are in intimate engagement they are moved along the substantially horizontal stretch of the table of the machine. 'I'his stretch or bonding section is dimensioned long enough to warrant completion of the ,desired bond between the two veneer pieces.

In order to facilitate. the bonding operation, I have provided heating means, as indicated at 't' (Fig. 1),v acting upon the seam from above, and, in addition, heating means which acts upon the bonding seamvfrom below. This latter heating device may be made in the form of a heated conveyor section u (Fig. 2) Vwhich extends only over the bonding section of the machine or one part thereof. This latter heating arrangement is designated at v in Fig. 1. It vmay be separate from the conveyor u, or it may be `arranged within the conveyor section u. An electrical' heating Varrangement may be used for this purpose. v y

Instead of using a conveyor section u, which is disposed between the yconveyor sections d and e, as shown in Fig. 2, extending only over the bonding section of the machine, a single endless chain orbelt conveyor w may be used, which extends, as shown in Fig. 3, between the drums i" and h. Two separatev conveyor sections, d and e' are employed in the binder applying section. Apair of spaced apart similar drums i' are located adjacent the large drum i" for separately supporting an end of the conveyor sections d and e. 'The right hand end of conveyor d' is supported on a drum g,.similar to drum g of Figs. 1 and 2, while4 the right hand end of conveyor c is supported on a drum f' which is similar to drum f. Conveyor e', as in the case of conveyor e of Figs, 1, 2 and 4, is arranged so that its working surface moves in a substantially horizontal plane while conveyor d', like conveyor d of Figs. 1, 2 and 4, has vits working surface inclined to the horizontal. Fig. shows the inclination of the conveyor d'. The table c used with conveyors d and e' is similar to that already described and is provided with inclined and horizontal portions c' and c respectively as schematically illustrated in Fig. 5, the dotted line c" indicating the horizontal part of the table which is in front of the inclined part thereof and which carries `the horizontal conveyor e therein. The large left hand conveyor chain or belt w, operating substantially throughout the bonding section of the machine, may be heated from below at its central section located underneath the bonding seam of the veneers which are moved by or over it.

Changes may be made within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A veneer joining machine, comprising a binder-applying section wherein binder is applied to the edges of the two veneers to be joined and a bonding section wherein said edges are moved into intimate engagement so as to form a substantially permanent seam or bond, said bonding section extending in a substantially horizontal plane, a pair of movable guide surfaces for carrying said veneer through said binderapplying section, said guide surfaces being disposed sde by side but in different planes and each guide surface extending in the same general direction to merge into the plane of said bonding section, means for applying binder to the edges of said veneers while they move through said binder applying section, and means for exerting pressure downwardly onto the veneers as they pass through the machine.

2. The structure dened in claim 1, wherein the guide surfaces in said binder-applying section are inclined at an angle to one another which converges toward said bonding section.

3. The structure dened in claim 1, wherein one of said guide surfaces in said binder-applying section is disposed substantially horizontally in the plane of said bonding section, and wherein the other guide surface is uniformly inclined at an angle thereto.

4. The structure defined in lclaim 1, wherein laterally spaced conveyor means constitute said guide surfaces, said conveyor means extending substantially throughout said binder-applying section, and a single laterally contiguous conveyor means extending substantially throughout said bonding section.

5. The structure dened in claim 1, wherein laterally spaced conveyor means constitute said guide surfaces, said conveyor means extending substantially throughout said binder-applying section, a separate laterally contiguous conveyor means extending substantially throughout said bonding section, and heating means for said separate conveyor means effective to the bonding seam of the veneers moved thereby.

6. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein said binder-applying means comprises a plurality of rollers, at least one roller being associated with each guide surface in said binder-applying section, each of said rollers applying different binders to the edges of the respective veeners moved over said surfaces,

7. In a veneer joining machine, a pair of endless conveyor means arranged in parallel but laterally spaced from each other and moving through planes which are disposed at an angle converging in the direction of effective conveyor motion, for initially conveying two sheets of veneer to be joined at their edges along two different gradually converging levels forming the binder-application section of said machine, a single laterally contiguous conveyor means extending substantially from the converging point of said pair of conveyors in the direction of effective conveyor motion forming the bonding section of said machine and pressure applying means for exerting pressure downwardly onto the veneers as they are conveyed through the machine.

8. The structure and combination defined in claim '7, together with means disposed within said binder-application section of said machine for applying binder separately to the edges of the veneers moved therethrough.

9. A veneer joining machine as dened in claim 1 wherein each guide surface comprises conveyor means which extend into said bonding section, and additional conveyor means located in and extending throughout the bonding section and disposed between said first named conveyor means.

10. In a veneer joining machine, a pair of spaced apart endless conveyor means disposed side by side for conveying two sheets of veneer which are to be joined at their edges, one conveyor means moving in a substantially horizontal plane throughout its length, the second conveyor means moving at an angle to the horizontal throughout a part of its length and in a substantially horizontal plane for the remainder of its length, the inclined portion of the second named conveyor means and the portion of the first named conveyor means opposite thereto providing a binder-applying section and the remaining portion of` each of said two conveyor means providing a bonding section for the machine, and pressure applying means for exerting a downward pressure on .the veneers as they are conveyed.

11. In a veneer joining machine as set forth in claim 10, the combination of a pair of binderapplying elements positioned in said binder-applying section at different levels to apply binder material to the edges of the veneers conveyed through said section.

12. In a veneer joining machine as defined in claim 10, separate conveyor means extending between said conveyor means in the bonding section of the machine.

ADOLF FRIZ. 

